PART V. 

 PYGMY WORKERS AND BUILDERS. 



ANTS: THEIR HOMES AND HABITS. 



1. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, observe her ways, 

 and be wise," is an injunction as old as Solomon, but it 

 may be followed as profitably to-day as when first made 

 three thousand years ago. When we go to the ants, we 

 observe a well-ordered community, eacli individual per- 

 forming its allotted task for the good of the whole, and ex- 

 amples of constructive ability, industry, thrift, and the wise 

 adaptation of means to ends perfectly marvelous in so tiny 

 a creature. What we are accustomed to call instinct here 

 seems to approach human reason, and it may be questioned 

 whether the ants do not possess an intelligence that places 

 them in a very high rank among organized beings. 



2. Observe the little ants of our fields and paths, and 

 see how they work. Watch how they dig their tunnels and 

 cover them in, like so many railway engineers. See how 

 they stop, every now and then, to study out their plans ; 

 how they consider all obstacles, and avoid them ; how they 

 use every leaf and stick and straw to make a wall or a roof 

 for their galleries. Who is the foreman, or "boss," as men 

 sometimes say ? Sometimes a single ant has hit upon a 

 new plan ; he goes to work on it ; the others soon adopt 

 the improvement, and help the skillful inventor ; they are 



